We must avoid overreacting on land issue

President Cyil Ramaphosa is a true leader, writes Dawie Jacobs from Sterrewag.

It is important to “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs” in Rudyard Kipling’s words. In today’s world where the media, more specifically social networks, bombard you with news, fake news, scaremongering, conspiracy theories, coloured historical perspectives and racist comments from all sides, it is important to just step back, observe the bigger picture and separate the grain from the chaff.

Grain 1: The principle of land reform has been identified long ago as a necessity across party lines. There is enough available land, without affecting productive farms.

Challenge: Implementation has been slow, unprofessional and ineffective, despite pockets of success, leaving room for populists to use this for cheap electioneering.

Grain 2: Under the Jacob Zuma regime, a resolution was pushed through about the principle of expropriation of land without compensation, later also adopted by parliament. It remains a resolution that will have to go through a process of scrutiny, negotiations and the test of our constitution.

It was partially aimed at strengthening the position of the Zuma faction in the run-up to the election of a new ANC president and also to outdo the EFF, given the loss of political ground by the ANC against background of the upcoming national election.

Grain 3: President Cyril Ramaphosa who, in a sense, inherited this situation, made it very clear that his aim is to settle this issue “once and for all” through an orderly process, involving all stakeholders, through negotiations.

If I had to choose a leader for our country, he would be someone with proven negotiating and managerial skills; someone who wields respect across party lines; someone who is respected by the business community; an experienced politician who understands the art of the do-able; and someone with practical experience in both business and farming.

The man who fits that description is Ramaphosa.